Paul I of Russia

Paul I of Russia (1 October 1754-23 March 1801) was Czar of the Russian Empire from 17 November 1796 to 23 March 1801, succeeding Catherine the Great and preceding Alexander I. Paul was a reform-minded emperor, going against his mother's foreign and domestic policies, leading to his assassination in a military coup in 1801.

Biography
Paul was born in St. Petersburg, Russian Empire on 1 October 1754, the son of Emperor Peter III of Russia and Empress Catherine the Great. Paul was taken from his mother at birth and raised by Empress Elizabeth of Russia, and he became crown prince on the death of Elizabeth and his father's accession to the throne in 1762. However, Catherine deposed Peter and had him killed, and Paul was married to Natalia Alexeievna of Russia. Paul and his mother maintained a distant relationship; when his mother died in 1796, he had her will destroyed out of fear that it would disinherit him from the throne, and he passed a primogeniture law to prevent another woman from reigning over Russia.

Paul attempted to feudalize the nobility and reform the military, two reforms that proved unpopular among his subjects. In foreign policy, his views were reactions to his mother's, recalling the 60,000 Russian troops that his mother had sent to assist Austria and Great Britain against the French Republic, as well as ending a confused expedition sent to conquer Iran through the Caucasus. In October 1798, the priory of the Knights of Malta elected Paul as their new Grand Master, as Paul was offended by Napoleon Bonaparte's conquest of Malta and the Knights' sale of the island to France. During the War of the Second Coalition, Paul committed Russia to the war effort against France, but the heavy losses suffered by the Russian armies in Switzerland and the disrespect of the Russian flag by Austrian soldiers at Ancona led to Russia pulling out of the alliance in December 1799. Russia remained allied with the United Kingdom, however, and the Russians collaborated with the British on a failed invasion of the Netherlands. This alliance was also doomed to fail due to Paul's pro-Scandinavian policies (supporting Denmark and Sweden's trade rights over British trade rights). In September 1800, following Paul's closure of British factories in St. Petersburg and the expulsion of the British ambassador due to Britain's seizure of a Danish frigate, the British refused to return Malta to the Knights, which Paul led.

On 8 January 1801, Paul oversaw Russia's annexation of Georgia after Russian troops resolved a succession crisis in the country, and he also planned to collaborate with Napoleon on an invasion of British India. A British Royal Navy fleet under Horatio Nelson was sent to bombard St. Petersburg in early 1801 in order to force Paul to abandon his alliance with France.

Assassination
Paul's unpopularity increased as he attempted to force the nobility to adopt a code of chivalry, discovered corruption in the treasury, repealed corporal punishment for free classes, granted greater rights to the peasantry, and protected serfs on estates. On 23 March 1801, Paul's unpopularity came to a head when he was assassinated in his bedroom at St. Michael's Castle. A band of dismissed officers charged into his room, pulled him from behind his drapes, forced him to abdicate, hit him with a sword, and proceeded to strangle and trample him. His son, Czar Alexander I of Russia, was told by his father's assassins to grow up and rule.